Reviews

The Outward Urge by John Wyndham, Lucas Parkes

ianbanks's review

3.0

Not indicative of the wider Wyndham canon but probably the most ambitious in scope of all his books. It's the story of 200 years in the lives of a spacefaring family at the awkward birth of a future history spanning the inner solar system.

While I'm not a fan of stories that feature families that are just so damned amazing that they dominate a society for generations, this is an interesting tale that posits that some members of this family were present at key junctures in history that are conveniently 50 years apart. That is an outrageous simplification because it really doesn't read as simply as that sentence might have you think. But it's not far off and it does come close to flirting with dangerously ridiculous coincidence at times, although only one really beggars belief (it happens in the final story, if you must know).

What's gratifying about it is the thrust of the future history that Mr Wyndham gives us: it spans the world, encompassing war, peace and colonialism but, tellingly, by the end of this slim volume has really only touched briefly on other planets, indicating that the race for space might be more complex than other authors may have led you to believe.

The annoying thing is that, although there is ample scope for storytelling in the range the author has given himself, we really are given a fairly bland collection of characters: it's quite hard to tell one generation of the family from another (although the story set on Mars is fantastic!) and there are quite a lot of pages devoted to the mechanics of space flight which are actually quite interesting to read but would be more effective if I hadn't spent my formative years on similar tales from Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov.

Despite its impressive ambition this is a book that has "minor work" written all over it.

meganori's review

3.0

Classic sci fi; they can imagine people living on venus, but they can't imagine a woman having a job or a speaking role in a book

linda_edwards's review against another edition

2.0

Not one of my favourites, it was okay, just not exciting enough.

flakkarin's review

4.0

Beautifully constructed, both intimate and overreaching.

wendleness's review

4.0

This book has five stories set across 200 years, linked by the development and exploration of space, as well as by the Troon family. It is common for Troons to have the ‘outward urge’–that is, to explore space, to go further, to know what else there is out there. And so the Troons are at the forefront of every spaceward progression these stories explore. The first British space station, the first landing on the moon, the first Mars landing, the first Venus landing… I love that Wyndham uses a family to connect the stories. They are more intrinsically linked this way, yet still independent, with so much time passing between them.

The first story had me sobbing by the end of it, despite the fact it was pretty clear what was going to come. For the first story to hit me like that left me already so invested in the rest. I love that while we meet the first Troon, heading to help build the space station, he is a young man, but when we meet his moon station commander son in the second story, he is 50 years old. It’s so clearly not the same story or character development in each chapter; they each have their own heart and meaning. I loved them all, but the first and the last were stand out for me. The Mars landing was a very close third. Just… they’re all brilliant!

A longer review can be read at my book blog: Marvel at Words.